American River Bankshares Announces its Third Quarter Cash Dividend

American River Bankshares (NASDAQ:AMRB) today announced its third quarter cash dividend of 15 cents per share payable on October 17, 2008 to shareholders of record on October 1, 2008.

About American River Bankshares

American River Bankshares (NASDAQ:AMRB) is the parent company of American River Bank ("ARB”), a community business bank serving the Greater Sacramento Area in California that operates a family of financial services providers, including North Coast Bank [a division of "ARB”] in Sonoma County and Bank of Amador [a division of "ARB”] in Amador County. For more information, please call (916) 851-0123 or visit www.amrb.com; www.americanriverbank.com; www.northcoastbank.com; www.bankofamador.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained herein are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and subject to the safe-harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from the results in these forward-looking statements. Factors that might cause such a difference include, among other matters, changes in interest rates, economic conditions, governmental regulation and legislation, credit quality, and competition affecting the Company’s businesses generally; the risk of natural disasters and future catastrophic events including terrorist related incidents; and other factors discussed in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007, and in reports filed on Forms 10-Q and 8-K. The Company does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any of these forward-looking statements, whether to reflect new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by law.